Day 3: Day Tour to Jisan Ski Resort

 On Day 3 we had to wake up really early to be picked up for our Ski Day Tour! Our pick-up time was at 7AM and we opted for the apartment which was 2 blocks away.

We booked our ski tour online from Sally Tour and chose the "One Day Jisan Ski Tour" at 70,000 Won each in a group of 4 (we went with Thanis and Mary). The Ski Tours are only available during Winter from December to February. Apart from apartment/ hotel pick-up and bus transportation, the Tour came with an English-speaking guide who also gave basic ski lessons and ski gear (boots, poles and gloves).

This was the itinerary as stated in the website:

07:00am ~ 08:00am : Hotel pick up
08:00am ~ 09:30am : Move to Jisan ski resort
09:30am ~ 11:00am : Ski gear rental, basic lesson
11:00am ~ 15:30pm : Free ski time (lunch is not included)
15:30pm ~ 18:00pm : Back to Seoul & stop by at shopping center, Drop off at your hotel 

The "stop by at shopping center" was a quick stop at a Ginseng store where you can buy ginseng if you wanted to. We were pleased that the guide did not try to persuade us to buy anything. The ginseng was expensive so I did not get to buy any.

Also, we opted for Jisan because it was only around an hour's drive away from the city. 

When we were almost at the resort, we stopped by a ski rental store to claim our tour-inclusive gear.

The ski jackets and trousers were all neatly stacked according to sizes S. M and L. Naturally, my BF and I went for colors that were close to our soul.

We were also advised to get goggles and helmets. Our group only got the goggles because goggles are good for countering the glare from any reflection on the ice and can be quite helpful to block your eyes from any freak accidents (ski poles in your eyes when another person falls down). The goggles were an extra 10,000 Won. Helmets (15,000 Won) are also advisable but we did not rent any because we were not going to do much skiing.

Scene similar to a big sale

A heater in the middle of the store with a kettle on top!

After that, we continued our journey to the ski resort!

with Mary and Thanis!

We're here! The lady in green was our tour guide and ski instructor. She was really funny.

Before we could start skiing, we had to get our ski boots and ski poles.

Firstly, we had to get our feet measured to determine our ski boots and pole size. I remember we had to add an extra 10 to whatever our size was and mine ended up as 220.

After filling in a form with our sizing, we had to go collect the boots and poles from the respective counters:

We also got a locker to store our stuff.

There was a machine to break our dollar notes into coins because the locker only takes 500 Won coins.

The lockers where you can safely store away your things while you ski

The guide taught us the basics such as maintaining our balance, falling properly, getting up, walking with the poles on, and most importantly, how to stop by making the perfect 'A'! We also went one by one down a tiny slope. It was pretty fun but the poles and boots were too heavy and I was starving due to no breakfast so I ended the ski pretty early. I fell once too while going down a larger slope.

All in all, I would do it again but with food in my tummy first! When you're on those ski poles, like my boss clearly put, you forget all other problems because at that moment, all that matters is you don't fall!

Honestly, we spent more time taking photos more than anything else... The ice was really pretty!

Patiently waiting for my Heo Joon Jae to turn up because I did not get to see any snow in Seoul!!!! Hello, I also want to be brought up to a ski resort with Heo Joon Jae?!!!

OK in case you did not know who Heo Joon Jae is................... *swoon, any reason to have a picture of him really. He is a character played by Lee Min Ho in "Legend of the Blue Sea", an ongoing Korean drama that I am so enthralled by.

After skiing (read: taking photos), we went in the resort cafeteria to have our brunch. The cafeteria had a lot of different stalls serving different types of food but naturally we opted for Korean. I ordered the cheese ramyeon. The tour guide very frankly and honestly told us not to expect much because this is a resort and resort food doesn't taste good. Hahaha but ramyeon is just ramyeon so it was warm and good.

We left the resort around 3 and eventually reached Dongdaemun at around 5 ish. The bus could drop us off at Myeongdong or any nearby place but we opted to go back to the apartment because I was starting to feel nauseous from the rain from the resort. Yep, it rained up there and I got sick for the next day which was such a bummer.

After getting back to Dongdaemun, we strolled around the streets below our apartment and went into a Korean restaurant and had warm beef short rib soup, or the Galbitang. I must say that beef is my favorite thing in Korea, which is surprising because pork is normally top of my list.

Beef in Korea is so tender and whether it is in the form of bulgogi or galbitang, I just wanted to eat it all.

We also ordered this Bean Paste stew. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo of the beef short rib soup.

And Day 3 skiing in Seoul was a wrap xx